Snider Family Charitable Trust Donates to UA’s Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources
The gift will help support operating costs for the institute, which is addressing many important issues including worksite and community safety and increasing renewable energy usage.

By John C. Brown, UA Foundation
May 13, 2010

Tim and Rhonda Snider have committed a $250,000 gift to the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources, or IMR, at the University of Arizona. The IMR is leading a number of global research initiatives in sustainable mining practices.

Tim Snider, former president and chief operating officer of Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold, Inc. and current chairman of Cupric Canyon Capital, LLC, chairs the IMR advisory board. The gift from The Snider Family Charitable Trust will help support operating costs for the institute.

"Tim and Rhonda's gift shows a lot of confidence and support that the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources will develop into a major global research center for interdisciplinary mineral resources research, addressing issues critical to the minerals sector," said Mary M. Poulton, director of the Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources and head of the department of mining and geological engineering. 

Founded in 2009 with funding from Science Foundation Arizona and 15 industry partners, the IMR has 30 ongoing research projects that aim to advance scientific, technological and educational aspects of mineral discovery, extraction and processing.

A team of about 65 faculty and staff members and graduate and undergraduate students from the UA, Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and Alaska-Fairbanks are working with 56 industry and government collaborators on the projects.

Research is addressing many important issues including worksite and community safety, lowering fresh water usage and other environmental impacts, increasing renewable energy usage, and improving social and policy issues related to mineral resources development. 

Other members of the IMR advisory board include Douglas Silver, president of Balfour Holdings; Stephen Enders, director of Cupric Canyon Capital, LLC; Christopher Curfman, president of the Caterpillar Global Mining Division; Peter van der Veen, former manager of oil/gas and mining for the World Bank; Luke Danielson, president of the Sustainable Development Strategies Group; and John Marsden, president of Metallurgium Consulting. 

The IMR's namesake, David and Edith Lowell, have endowed the master's programs and continuing education portion of the institute's activities.

Share

Resources for the media

Mary M. Poulton

Lowell Institute for Mineral Resources

520-621-8391